IMMACULATA — When he went to school Thursday morning, Connor Higgins' left arm felt a bit off.

It carried the zip he needed when he took the mound in the afternoon.

Growing frustrated by the strike zone in the sixth inning, Higgins found himself in a bases-loaded, one-out jam while protecting a one-run Parkland lead. He left all three Council Rock North runners on base when he settled in and struck out back-to-back hitters.

Higgins returned to the mound to start the seventh and whiffed the Indians' most dangerous hitter, Brandon McIlwain. He needed just two more pitches to finish off his complete game as Parkland eked out a 2-1 win in a PIAA Class 4A baseball quarterfinal at Immaculata University.

The District 11-champion Trojans (27-1 overall) advanced to the final week of the high school baseball season and a Monday date in the state semifinals. They will face District 2 champion Wyoming Valley West, a 2-1 winner over Saint Joe's Prep, at a site and time to be determined.

Higgins did the heavy lifting to put Parkland in its first state semifinal since 2009. Pitching with no more than a one-run lead all day, he went seven innings and limited the District One-champion Indians to three hits and one run. He walked five (one intentional) and struck out six as the Trojans won their third straight one-run game in the postseason.

"At the end of the game, I just felt awesome today," Higgins said. "My arm felt the best it did all year. I really felt like I had the pop on my fastball today."

Higgins needed everything in his arsenal to put away the Indians.

When he walked Cole Hofmann in the sixth, it loaded the bases for No. 8 hitter Matt Hand. Higgins froze Hand with a called third strike, then blew away Tyler Nowmos to end the inning with the Trojans still leading 2-1.

The seventh inning went more smoothly for Higgins. He struck out McIlwain, a junior who has verbally committed to play quarterback at South Carolina, for his third straight punchout.

Higgins' next two pitches saw Council Rock North hit the ball right back to him. The first ball, a hard liner, landed in Higgins' glove as he completed his follow-through. The grounder Seth Leuz chopped back to the mound one pitch later allowed Higgins to make an easy toss to first to put the game away.

"He's somebody that when people get on [base], he threw better from the stretch today than he did the windup. He had a couple of balls up there that he hummed up there."

While Parkland needed a big effort from Higgins to survive, its offense did just enough damage against two Council Rock North pitchers. Justin Afflerbach singled, walked and scored twice for the Trojans.

Chris Rabasco (2-for-2) knocked Afflerbach in the first time, ripping an RBI single to right-center field in the first. Rabasco's diving stop at shortstop and flip to second in the top of the fifth kept Parkland from falling behind after Cole German tied the game one batter earlier with an RBI single.

"It's two out and a guy on second, so you're always trying to lay out, at least knock the ball down and maybe keep him at third," Rabasco said. "Luckily I had a good first step and knew I would be able to get to it. I just didn't know if I could go to second. Luckily Tyler [Bruno] was in his spot and was there for me."

Parkland regained the lead in its half of the fifth thanks to patience and execution. Afflerbach and Rabasco drew back-to-back walks off McIlwain to start the inning before Bruno bunted them into scoring position.

Evan McAndrew, who had two RBIs in the state opener, followed with a long fly ball to right field. That allowed Afflerbach to trot home with the eventual game-winning run.

One more win would send Parkland to Penn State next Friday for a chance to win a state championship. The Trojans will have this Friday off before gearing up for their game against Wyoming Valley West.

"We have no pressure anymore," Higgins said. "That first [state] game was our big pressure game. Now we're just out here having fun trying to win the title."